History

Foreigners in the Wehrmacht either wore their own national uniforms with German rank insignia, or German uniforms with sleeve insignia identifying their country of origin. These sleeve insignia were supposed to be worn on the right upper sleeve, although they were also often worn on the left side. The shield usually shows the national colours, and often comes with a country name in Latin capitals at the top.

Of most of the foreigners sleeve insignia one or more additional (slightly) altered variants may exist.

The Don Cossacks insignia has two main versions.

The first version was introduced on December 12, 1942. It shows horizontal stripes, yellow/blue/red, inside a black border, with “Don” in blue letters on black.
The second version shows a dark grey-green shield with a smaller red/blue shield, with “VD” in Cyrillic letters in white.